#Null is still alive ok???? Trust. Trust.

[laplacesdevil]

a sequel to last year's bday 4 the first release! it seems like friend is making amends! ...or tries to, at least

...also i know null TECHNICALLY doesnt get beat up until bbcr's release but as a treat.

[uh-oh-its-bird]

Hi there take some unsolicited starwars fic ideas that Im literally never going to fully write but am agressivley thinking about anyways

Summary:

A ghost sits in the emperor's shadow. Teeth bared, eyes sharp, lying in wait.

Tldr; Fox is killed by Palpatine but at this point his soul has been fucked with by dark force shit(tm) so much that he's able to linger on as a half-there remnant

When Luke confronts Palpetine some more weird force shit(tm) happens and Fox is able to manifest in time to kill the bitch, and by eating his soul (???) he gains the power to manifest more fully as some sort of very much *not* human force,,, *thing*

Also Cody and Obi-Wan are still alive and also are sickeningly in love because fuck you that's why

I need you to imagine Sunshine Luke holding up Clearly Not Normal Fox like

"!!!!!! Look what I found!!!!!!"

"Luke he ate the emperor"

"Ok and?"

This also means Darth Vader is alive so he's just kind of Awkwardly standing there in the corner like

🧍‍♂️ "Commander Fox. I am." *heavy breathing.* "Pleased to see you survived."

"I didn't."

*More heavy breathing*

No clue how that'd go but it'd go SOMEWHERE

Maybe Fox wanted to eat him too but has some sort of weird pity for him after watching over the Emperor's shoulder for so many years. They're both Palpatine's fucked up little experiments, even if Fox can identity exactly what went wrong a LOT better than Anakin. Hell, they actually possibly interacted some before Fox got axed, maybe they were almost friends. Got that good old 'unspoken understanding' energy where they make eye contact once in a while and just kind of nod and look away.

Thinking also ab how the rebels are either, totally off put and don't trust him at all or *Oh wow well he killed the emperor for us!!! But he's also uhh. Kind of a freak. But he killed the emperor, so???* or just full throttle *He killed!!! The emperor!!! My favorite boy!!!! Look at him go!!!!! Eldrich who?? I don't care I am in LOVE!!!!*

Fox getting all this love and support from some VERY eager and thankful rebels. He's one of them now!! No take backs!!!!

Also Luke has absoloutley claimed him as his own. Cool powerful clone commander??? Sort of friends with his dad??? Killed the emperor??? Luke NEEDS them to be friends. Leia is a bit more hesitant at first but warms up quickly, and Han is Han so he probably makes some noise ab it but the second he hears anyone say shit he's ready to throw down.

I'm actually a personal fan of 'being half force means Anakin was a 'lill otherworldly and that otherness definatley passed down to his kids' so maybe Palpatine's experiments had to do with trying to shove some of that specific otherworldliness into Fox, and it kind of resonates with the twins. They see him and just go *!!!! Oh???? One of us???*

Han in the bg with his own weird force null thing and his close relationship with the twins just. Not really sensing anything wrong. He's grown even number to weird otherness and eldrich force vibes, Fox is a bit odd to him but he just can't see what the fuss is about. Everyone needs to calm the fuck down smh

And Fox ofc just standing there covered in blood as he's suddenly receiving all this positive attention and support like *I don't know how to feel about any of this.*

Part of him wants to just. Return to the shadows. He's done his part now. He wants to rest. Let the man SLEEP he's fucking earned it

Anyways this is definatley inspired more than a little by @wreathedinscales's Corrie Red AU, which you should absoloutley read if you like anything eldrich and anything Fox

[themoonslayer]

Every single Zutara moment can be disputed by the plot AND/OR a Kataang moment and I have PROOF

#1 All moments before his redemption: NULL and VOID toxic trash he would’ve killed her to get to Aang and she would’ve done the same to him in order to protect Aang NEXT.

#2 The cave scene in Ba Sing Se: Katara starts out mad at Zuko because his nation is the reason her mother is dead. He tells her he related because he lost his mother due to the fire nation as well. Katara, being the compassionate person she is, decides to try and heal Zuko’s scar in hopes that he has actually changed. Katara’s scar from the fire nation was the death of her mother which can never be healed so she sought that out by almost healing Zuko’s scar. It was also included so Zuko would know there’s a possibility the avatar was still alive. THAT IS ALL. Because like 10 minutes later he completely betrays her by fighting alongside Azula, dismantling the attack that could’ve taken Azula down.

#3 The Western Air Temple: A lot of people love to forget at the end of this episode Katara literally threatens Zuko with DEATH over Aang like no one ever talks about that.

#4 The Southern Raiders: In every episode before this Katara continually puts Zuko down and makes fun of him until he offers to help her find her mothers killer. And we all know the significance of this to her. So she seeks out revenge completely disses Sokka and Aang saying they won’t understand even though Aang lost ALL OF HIS PEOPLE and Sokka had THE SAME MOTHER - But I I digress. Aang says no to her taking appa because he doesn’t want Katara to get revenge. She is about to take Appa anyway when Aang tells her to let her anger out and then let it go. To this Zuko replies “ok we’ll be sure to do that guru goody-goody” Katara ends up listening to Aang and not getting revenge which is what he knew she would end up doing because they have that much trust in eachother. Zuko doesn’t know her like that. He will never know her like that. ZUKO EVEN ACKNOWLEDGES THAT AANG WAS RIGHT. And people love to use their one hug as a defining Zutara moment even though it was crucial to the rest of the team that they learned how to be friends. That was it. They didn’t need to be anything more than that for the plot to work.

#5 The Ember Island players: Zuko and Katara sit next to each other. That was literally put in to create Kataang tension. It wasn’t gonna be Sokka cuz he was sitting with Suki and Toph went first. When they’re romanticized in the play they move apart. That’s all.

#6 Sozin’s comet part 1-4: He chooses to bring Katara to help him fight Azula. COMET POWERED CRAZY AZULA. His choices were: Suki a badass non bender but Sokka’s girlfriend who Zuko had little to no connection to. Sokka: A smart but not very skilled swordsman who also cannot bend. And Toph A BADASS earthbending master who could unfortunately not see Azula’s overpowered lighting strikes or fire blasts. AND katara the youngest and first female water bending MASTER who could bloodbend (Zuko didn’t know she could do that without the moon) so obviously he picked her. You don’t bring rocks to a fire fight. You bring WATER. (this is in no way shade to any of the other characters they’re all badass and have contributed in many other ways but could not take down Azula at that time)

#7 Sozin’s comet part 4: Zuko takes a lightening bolt for Katara. Sweet but Aang DIED FOR HER. like literally if he had let her go he would’ve been able to access the avatar state and probably would’ve killed everyone in that cave. Also I genuinely believe he would’ve done it for anyone on team avatar because he was that genuine and loyal to them. It’s was the final piece of his redemption. Taking one for the team. It just happened to be Katara.

And in conclusion they had no on screen chemistry

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol. 1 Annual 1980

Tues Apr 27 2020 [10:15 PM] Bocaj: Ah annuals [10:15 PM] Bocaj: My bane [10:15 PM] Wack'd: The first story is called "Time for the Prime Ten" and I have to suspect someone came up with that title and then worked backwards to a story [10:16 PM] Bocaj: Ah, like silver age DC with that and covers [10:17 PM] Wack'd: Alicia is taking Franklin for the weekend while the Four finish up one of Reed's inventions [10:17 PM] Bocaj: Do you really want Johnny helping with that, Reed? [10:18 PM] Wack'd: I mean counterpoint: would you rather trust Johnny with menial construction work or supervising a child [10:18 PM] maxwellelvis: Hmm... [10:19 PM] Bocaj: That’s tough [10:19 PM] Mousa The 14: Kid fixes cars, he has at least some mechanical know how [10:19 PM] Wack'd: Hilariously, just as Alicia and Franklin leave, Reed finishes his project! So, like [10:19 PM] Mousa The 14: ... WHY BOTHER [10:19 PM] Wack'd: Honestly unless that project was child-proofing your lab I dunno what the point was [10:20 PM] Bocaj: 😐 [10:20 PM] Wack'd: But the project was not childproofing the lab! It was wirelessly transmitting energy! Reed got Franklin's toy car to move with no batteries and he's quite pleased [10:20 PM] maxwellelvis: Well of course the real reason is to make sure Franklin and Alicia are helpless when something bad happens, but... [10:20 PM] Mousa The 14: That’s cute I guess [10:21 PM] Mousa The 14: And a useful invention [10:21 PM] Wack'd: Especially, as Reed points out, in an energy crisis [10:23 PM] Wack'd: Reed is hoping this leads to grants to work on faster-than-light travel, as he's always wanted to go to do that [10:23 PM] Mousa The 14: Ummm [10:23 PM] Wack'd: Chew over that one for a bit [10:24 PM] Mousa The 14: But... [10:24 PM] Mousa The 14: But... [10:24 PM] maxwellelvis: YOU'VE ALREADY- [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Then stop chewing because someone's at the door! [10:24 PM] Mousa The 14: I don’t even... [10:24 PM] Wack'd: And the alarms didn't go off! [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Egads! [10:24 PM] Umbramatic: i [10:24 PM] Bocaj: Is it wacky neighbor Namor? [10:24 PM] maxwellelvis: He's been to other planets [10:25 PM] maxwellelvis: I... just... GAAAAHHHH [10:25 PM] Wack'd: @Bocaj Close

[10:26 PM] Bocaj: Does he just [10:26 PM] Bocaj: Wiggle his ears as he walks around [10:27 PM] Wack'd: Sometimes you've just got to amuse yourself [10:28 PM] Bocaj: Mm, true [10:29 PM] Wack'd: Anyway it hasn't been that long since we saw Willie [10:30 PM] Bocaj: How long? [10:30 PM] Wack'd: His most recent listed appearance date is #191 in 1978,  and it's 1980, so [10:31 PM] Bocaj: Willie is back from Hollywood Kansas [10:32 PM] Wack'd: Especially for a character who is barely more than a cameo to begin with those are pretty good numbers [10:32 PM] Mousa The 14: Good point [10:33 PM] Mousa The 14: But hey, Willie is a staple. A rock. [10:34 PM] Wack'd: So anyway Reed makes his excuses to go check the Baxter's security systems. He can't find anything wrong [10:34 PM] Wack'd: And then a portal opens in Reed’s energy transmitter to Captain Mar-Vell having a fight scene involving a lot of falling rocks [10:34 PM] maxwellelvis: Like he just pops up? [10:34 PM] Mousa The 14: What he never thought maybe he built in a security exception for good ol’ Willie? [10:36 PM] Wack'd: Reed is now very concerned because it was not supposed to be doing that [10:36 PM] maxwellelvis: And he accidentally opened a portal to wherever Captain Marvel was at that very moment? [10:36 PM] Wack'd: His theory is Mar-Vell--or his combatant--accidentally opened a portal to him [10:37 PM] Wack'd:

[10:38 PM] Aleph Null: Skrull Cops Are Bastards [10:38 PM] Wack'd: Willie's a postman! [10:38 PM] Aleph Null: he looks like a cop! [10:38 PM] Wack'd: Sure [10:39 PM] Wack'd: Anyway that "package" "Willie" brought was an alarm canceler and also a stun...thing, so Sue, Johnny and Ben are out of the picture for the moment [10:40 PM] Wack'd: "LET ME EXPOSIT, DAMMIT"

[10:41 PM] Wack'd: Wow, your device has three whole purposes, that's impressive! But if you'll me a moment, I need to take a moment to check the weather on this device I'm using to read comics, duplicate portions of them, and instantaneously send them to friends

[10:42 PM] Mousa The 14: Man, Skrull technology is really behind. They just can’t seem to keep up with humanity’s advances [10:42 PM] Umbramatic: alas [10:43 PM] Wack'd: Okay so, basically [10:44 PM] Wack'd: Skrulls want to win the Kree/Skrull War [10:44 PM] Wack'd: To do this, they want teleportation [10:44 PM] Wack'd: Reed's device can do this, but with energy instead of matter [10:45 PM] Wack'd: "Willie" wants to exchange the lives of the Four for Reed's transmitter so the Skrulls can get it up to code [10:45 PM] Wack'd: Hell he even promises not to bring the fight to Earth [10:46 PM] Wack'd: He's slightly-to-moderately surprised when Reed refuses on ethical grounds [10:47 PM] Mousa The 14: “What do you know of ‘Ethics’, Richards.” [10:48 PM] Wack'd: Reed catches him monologuing and BUSCEMA-PUNCHES HIM FROM BEHIND WITH HIS BALLED-UP ANKLE

[10:48 PM] Bocaj: Amazing [10:48 PM] maxwellelvis: He punched him with his leg! [10:48 PM] Umbramatic: impressive [10:48 PM] Bocaj: Now here's the nonsense stretching that I"m here for [10:48 PM] Umbramatic: creative power use i like that [10:48 PM] maxwellelvis: He PUNCHED the Skrull with his LEG [10:49 PM] Mousa The 14: Gave him the boot [10:49 PM] Umbramatic: a boot to the head [10:49 PM] maxwellelvis: He found the proper ankle of attack [10:50 PM] maxwellelvis: He really put his foot down [10:50 PM] Mousa The 14: And one more for Jenny and the wimp [10:49 PM] Wack'd: Anyway Reed wins easily and knocks the Skrull cold. And then Captain Marvel steps through the portal and is like "hey, I hate Kree and Skrulls, give me the transmitter and I'll clean all this up for you" [10:50 PM] Wack'd: It was. Probably too good an offer

[10:51 PM] Mousa The 14: Yeah even with that ask I wouldn’t have given it to him [10:51 PM] Mousa The 14: On the other hand. If it’s in the hands of Captain Marvel it would be completely useless and go absolutely nowhere [10:52 PM] Wack'd: Mar-Vell is like "you need to kill that guy now, no questions asked" and Reed is like [10:52 PM] Wack'd: "Okay just because I'm the one who gave myself the title smartest man alive doesn't mean it isn't true" [10:53 PM] maxwellelvis: "C'mon, be a pal! Pretty please?" [10:53 PM] Mousa The 14: Mar-Vell: “You gave yourself that title? You know what? Keep it.” [10:53 PM] Wack'd: I'm kidding, he talks about how Mar-Vell isn't bloodthirsty. But how do I know? I've never read a book with him [10:54 PM] Mousa The 14: Really, coulda swore showed up in FF previously [10:54 PM] Bocaj: He's a super saiyan [10:54 PM] maxwellelvis: From what I know the only thing that sets Mar-Vell off is Thanos. [10:54 PM] maxwellelvis: But then, who isn't? [10:54 PM] Wack'd: Anyway turns out bloodthirsty "kill him now" Mar-Vell is the imposter [10:54 PM] Wack'd: Stunner [10:54 PM] Mousa The 14: Shock above all shocks [10:55 PM] maxwellelvis: "Would you like me to shoot him now or wait til you get home?" [10:55 PM] maxwellelvis: "SHOOT HIM NOW! SHOOT HIM NOW!" [10:55 PM] maxwellelvis: "You keep out of this, I don't have to shoot you now." [10:56 PM] maxwellelvis: "Well I say you DO have to shoot me now! I DEMAND you shoot me now! ....mother!" [10:56 PM] Wack'd: Reed, smartly, also asks this Mar-Vell for proof of identity, and Mar-Vell has him stare into his eyes and see the whole of existence [10:56 PM] Wack'd: And Reed believes him and doesn't notice the syringe full of alien hallucinogens that I've just been plunged into his arm nah I'm kidding [10:56 PM] Wack'd: It's the real deal [10:57 PM] Umbramatic: alien hallucinogens are the good stuff [10:57 PM] Wack'd: This story still isn't over though! More Skrulls show up! Eight of them! Plus the other two makes Ten [10:58 PM] Wack'd: They're the ten prime Skrulls chosen for this mission [10:58 PM] Umbramatic: and that's terrible [10:58 PM] maxwellelvis: Even with the other three KO'd, that shouldn't be a problem. [10:58 PM] Wack'd: So, you know, I know we've all probably forgotten about that awful pun in the title, but here's our evidence it was reversed engineered [10:59 PM] Wack'd: Anyway the other three of Four miraculously wake up and return from being stunned earlier [10:59 PM] Wack'd: Fight fight fight [11:00 PM] Bocaj: ACTION SCENE NOW [11:01 PM] Wack'd: I guess this was all a parable about ethics and science? Seems to me like it was mostly about dumb imposter reveals but okay

[11:01 PM] Bocaj: its like action league now is the joke [11:01 PM] Wack'd: I understood that reference [11:01 PM] Bocaj: Ok but why is it that the work can't be precisely repeated [11:02 PM] Bocaj: Reed. You do understand that’s the definition of the scientific method, right? [11:02 PM] Bocaj: The fuck you doing if its not that? [11:02 PM] maxwellelvis: I'd have to assume it's the portal aspect he means. [11:02 PM] Umbramatic: "dumb imposter reveals" are just what happens every time you involve skrulls [11:02 PM] Wack'd: If I had to take a wild guess his funding was conditional on results, he had only gotten a result like two hours ago, and then it immediately got blown up [11:03 PM] Wack'd: Whoever gave him the money to build this thing is not going to accept "Skrulls ate my homework" [11:03 PM] Wack'd: But this story also says that Reed had never done faster than light travel before so who fucking knows [11:04 PM] Bocaj: What a bafflement [11:04 PM] Wack'd: Speaking of bafflements [11:04 PM] Wack'd: There is an epilogue [11:04 PM] Wack'd: In which it turns out Sue, Johnny and Ben had been gotten out of the way by sent back in time two hours [11:05 PM] Wack'd: And now there are duplicates who need to imminently depart to go fight Skrulls [11:05 PM] Bocaj: huh. [11:05 PM] maxwellelvis: I'm surprised Aleph Null hasn't chimed with a remark about a resonance cascade [11:07 PM] Aleph Null: "It's not- it's not shutting down!" [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Anyway there's a second story! [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Normally I wouldn't bother because the Four aren't in it [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Buuuuuut [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Well [11:09 PM] Wack'd: When last we saw Latveria, Doom had been institutionalized and Zorba had taken over as an interm leader while elections are set up [11:10 PM] Aleph Null: love democracy! [11:10 PM] Wack'd: So we should. Probably find out why it's not like that going forward [11:10 PM] Mousa The 14: One might say the democracy was doomed to fail in Latveria [11:10 PM] Wack'd: Ha! [11:10 PM] Aleph Null: like in america [11:10 PM] Mousa The 14: There can only be one victor in the contest of ruling that nation [11:11 PM] Wack'd: I like that Moench is actually, like, giving time to this. I feel like in the modern comics climate a lot of folks would just quietly ignore previous runs or dismantle them offpanel [11:11 PM] Wack'd: But also this is a dumb status quo reversion so like [11:12 PM] Umbramatic: welp [11:12 PM] Aleph Null: there are smart status quo reversions? [11:13 PM] maxwellelvis: Ending the Clone Saga [11:14 PM] Wack'd: So the first two pages of this are heady political debate! Zorba's tax policy is coming under protest since Doom preferred to fund things with, you know, crime, so taxes are kind of a new thing for folks [11:17 PM] Wack'd: Zorba feels it's unfair that people are ignoring his civil liberties reform but his advisor points out that since most people never had direct contact with Doom, their day-to-day lives weren't much impacted by what a huge shithead he was [11:18 PM] Wack'd: His advisor also points out that if you give people the right to protest, well, sometimes middle-class assholes who don't want higher taxes are going to be the ones waving signs [11:19 PM] Umbramatic: oh great lavertia still has republicans [11:20 PM] Wack'd: The advisor however also reminds Zorba that, at one time, he was the protestor, and he should be cautious of that worm turning [11:20 PM] Wack'd: Especially with most of Doom's inner circle being mysteriously unaccounted for [11:20 PM] Umbramatic: 🤔 [11:20 PM] Wack'd: (Doom having an inner circle is kind of a surprise to me but, like, he runs a country, a cabinet is probably necessary) [11:21 PM] Umbramatic: the cabnet is just a bunch of doombots [11:21 PM] maxwellelvis: He's got Boris, and he's got... his national superhero, forgot her name [11:21 PM] Bocaj: Victorious. She's newer [11:22 PM] maxwellelvis: She's there to do the stuff he's can't be at, because even DOOM cannot be everywhere. [11:22 PM] Wack'd: Anyway Zorba is like "please, for any real resistance to happen, Doom himself would have to have escaped, but he's still in his cell--" [11:22 PM] maxwellelvis: "Oh no! OH NO!" [11:22 PM] Wack'd: I'll give you three guesses what is actually in Doom's cell right now [11:23 PM] Bocaj: Doombot? [11:23 PM] Wack'd: Yep [11:23 PM] maxwellelvis: A vaguely Doom-shaped dummy with a broom, a bucket, and his old cloak? [11:23 PM] maxwellelvis: Oh. [11:24 PM] Bocaj: The thing about many latverian citizens not being directly oppressed really lines up with my grand theory of statesman doom [11:24 PM] Aleph Null: wait so this actually has things to say about politics? [11:24 PM] Wack'd: Yeah! Whoda thunk [11:24 PM] Wack'd: Zorba's advisor, whose name is Starn, thank you comic [11:24 PM] Wack'd: Starn is like "we need to infiltrate the Doom loyalist underground to find out how this happened" [11:25 PM] Wack'd: And Zorba's like "spying is against civil liberties so, uh, no" [11:25 PM] Wack'd: Given how the story ends I'm really hoping that the moral isn't "civil liberties are bad sometimes actually" [11:26 PM] Bocaj: Good hustle though, zorba [11:27 PM] Bocaj: In the sports sense [11:28 PM] Aleph Null: the only way to beat a bad guy with a fascist security state is a good guy with a fascist security state [11:28 PM] Wack'd: Zorba awakes from a PTSD nightmare to the realization that if the loyalists have spirited away Doom, well, he's kinda fragile right now, he'd need his armor [11:28 PM] Wack'd: And arrives in its vault just in time to be ambushed by loyalists [11:28 PM] Bocaj: Womp womp [11:29 PM] Wack'd: *sigh* Goddammit Zorba

[11:29 PM] Wack'd: Also that "crucial minutes too late" remark makes me think Starn is in on it [11:31 PM] Wack'd: Doom is revived but, when the captured soldier appears mere minutes later, Doom realizes it's a trap and a shootout ensues [11:32 PM] Wack'd: Zorba barely manages to escape, and Doom decides that before he can return to power he needs to make sure he has no more challengers. Ever. [11:32 PM] Wack'd: And that's where we leave things. [11:33 PM] Wack'd: Oh also max mentioned Boris earlier so here's a Boris

[chaoticpolarity]

On the topic of ZaDR

So I wasn’t originally going to add my voice to this, since I figured there were plenty of others already adding points I agreed with.  But I just had to unfollow someone on my dashboard because they posted something anti-ZaDR for the whole pedophilia argument, so. *cracks knuckles*

I’ve been in this fandom since I was 12 years old (I am now 22), and have shipped ZaDR for nearly as long.  They were probably the first ship I ever actually intensely supported.  Like, most of us are supportive of relationships in media, and then there are those of us who actively seek out and even create material for relationships.  ZaDR was the first one of the latter for me, and that ship was also my introduction to the fact that gay couples exist, and that they are ok and accepted and supported (looking back on it, I was clearly not much of a fujoshi, if that was how I interpreted that material, lol).

I have a very strong feeling that those who are most outspoken about ZaDR being “pedophilia” are newcomers to the fandom through the movie, because before the movie came out, the pedophilia argument was never a thing.  We all knew Zim was older than Dib.  He comes from another planet, and he references how he’s been doing *insert thing here* since before Dib had been born.  It’s kind of a “well duh” fact. 

The thing that people had against ZaDR, back in my day (heh, I’m old now), was the fact that it’s gay.  Even Jhonen, while he never explicitly said that this was his reasoning for hating the ship, was implied to be against it for this reason, since he could see ZaGR (Zim and Gaz being romantically involved) as possible, even though Gaz is DIB’S YOUNGER SISTER.

What is my point here with this?  My point (well, one of them) is that, in most cases, with most creators, you can trust the word of God.  They usually have a solid idea of the series and the characters, including their ages.  Not with Jhonen.  Dib never had a canon age up until the movie, and I was honestly shocked that he even canonized his age at all, because that’s very unlike the Zim crew.  Jhonen once gave us Zim’s canon age (I think it was 159 Earth years, or around 16 Irken years.  Something along those lines), but now, in his latest tweet, he says “even [he has] no idea.”

To back this up, through both aired and unaired episodes (Tak the Hideous New Girl and The Trial come to my mind most), we can sort of gather that Irkens, as a species, are QUASI-IMMORTAL (alongside other fascinating aspects about them, such as the fact that their bodies are mostly just things to carry around the round, spotted things on their backs.  I encourage looking into it.  Ten Minutes to Doom and The Trial, again, are great sources of this info)  They’re grown in tubes as clones, and, while they can die, they DON’T AGE.  From birth, they’re given an assignment, and then they just go do that assignment.

So what does this mean?  It means that the pedophilia argument for ZaDR is null and void.  Ageless, quasi-immortal beings, I would think, are excluded from the pedophilia argument.  Zim may have been alive for over one hundred Earth years, but he doesn’t have a changing maturity level.  It’s been the same the whole time, and if you look at the episodes I’ve recommended, you’ll see I’m right.

What does this mean for Dib?  Well, it depends on what age he’s depicted as in the material created with him, because I have to bring up the fact that most fics and fanart shipping ZaDR do age Dib up.  Before you open your mouths, eager that you’ve found a loophole to scream “Those nasty pedophiles! Aging Dib up so they can draw him in sexual situations!  I knew it!  This was disgusting from the start!” let me stop you for one second.  Most of the people aging Dib up in their art and fanfics?  Minors.  They were around my age at the time, and let me remind you, I was 12.  Also, the main reason they wanted to age Dib up?  To not only make Zim and Dib on even more equal ground for shipping, but to also bring in the potential of a relationship changing over time.  I assure you, most of the time, it was not for pedophilic reasons, and aging up a character to be on more equal terms with an immortal being is not inherently bad.  Look at the Twilight Saga.  Stephanie Meyers only let Bella get married to Edward when she turned eighteen, did you notice that?  Would you call that pedophilic?  If so, why, and on which end?  Cuz Edward is forever seventeen.  Anyways, I digress.

The point of this is, I’ve grown up with this series, and with this ship.  My opinion on and love for it hasn’t changed, only gotten more complex.  And, back when I was twelve, I knew to dislike and be grossed out by pedophilic ships.  I haven’t even gotten into the mess that was DaDR.  You want someone to attack for a pedophilic ship?  Look for them, if fans of that ship even still exist now.  I know what pedophilia looks like, and ZaDR ain’t it.

All that being said, welcome into the fandom, newcomers!  I hope you watch the original series as well as the movie.  It’s a little different in a lot of ways, but still extremely enjoyable, and just as wacky and crazy as Zim will ever be.  Enjoy your stay, and maybe try to dial it back on the online bullying and stuff?  We already have had cringe culture attached to us from the beginning, we don’t need more, modern stuff to deal with.

[firstumcschenectady]

"Afterlife?" based on Job 14 and Mark 12:18-27

I want to start today by asking for your trust – particularly from those who are here particularly for the baptism.  I do know that the first hymn and the scriptures have been an odd match for a baptismal Sunday so far, and it is going to get worse before it gets better, but it IS going to get better, I promise.

The question of “what happens after we die” is relevant to us for two separate reasons.  One reason is entirely personal: we want to know if we are simply mortal and if we cease to exist when we die.  The other may be just as personal, in a different way:  we want to know if the connects we have to those who have died before us are still alive or if they only feel that way.

Both of these are good reasons to want to know, but nevertheless, we don't know what happens after death.  And our believes about it end up being profoundly personal. If we are looking at afterlife through the lens of the Christian Tradition, there are three big questions people to disagree over:

Does afterlife exist?

If there is an afterlife, do both heaven and hell exist, or just heaven?

If both heaven and hell exist, how are people sorted between them?

While many people have deep conviction about their answers to these questions, and believe their answers to be the “normal” ones, the truth is that Christians have disagreed about this for about as long as there have been Christians.

For centuries, Christianity has taught about afterlife and the existence of heaven and hell, all while arguing about the means of sorting people into each.  Yet,  there is also a large group of Biblical Scholars who think that we've gotten those assumptions wrong.  They say that 1st century Jews, Jesus, and the earliest Christians did not believe in heaven and hell the way we do.  At best, heaven and hell were temporary resting places while waiting for bodily resurrection that would come along with the Kindom of God on earth.1  More commonly, people believed that there was nothing until the moment of universal bodily resurrection, which they expected to come within the first generation after Jesus.  For some others the perspective of Job 14 was accurate:  humans die but at least God doesn't.

For the most part, I think afterlife is an aside to Christianity.  The goal is to build the kindom on earth, not in heaven.  However, the reality of deaths of those we love and the looming reality of our own deaths don't let us go.  We really want to know, and for many people, what they believe about afterlife profoundly connects to how they understand God.  

Now, this is the fifth and final sermon in a sermon series comparing the salient points of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, the tradition of the Christian Right, and what I've been calling “Jesus-followers”.  (That final group is us.)  Moralistic Therapeutic Deism was discovered through sociological research on the belief system on teenagers, and we have reason to believe it is the default belief system of most Americans.  Unfortunately, as we've found, its a rather problematic belief system, at least in my opinion.  It consists of 5 intersecting assumptions:

"A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."

"God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions."

"The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself."

"God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem."

"Good people go to heaven when they die."

Today we are looking at the 5th and final point, “Good people go to heaven when they die.”

Of course, if you asked most people what Christians think, that would be a key part of the answer, “good people go to heaven when they die,” but – of course - our tradition is far more complicated than is generally known.

Historically, I think the concepts of heaven and hell came into clarity in the 3rd or 4th century, as that's when the fights over who went where really picked up.  So let's look at our three questions:

Does afterlife exist?

Christians of good faith disagree about this one.  Some, including some in this community, say, “no.  This life is all there is, so let's make the best of it instead of pretending there is more.”  Others, including some in this community, say, “I think so.  I've had some experiences that lead me to that conclusion and/or it just feels right.”  Still others simply aren't sure.  Because the “word on the street” about Christianity so profoundly conflates belief in God with belief in afterlife, I feel the need to say this explicit: all of these are faithful statements that are congruent with knowing a loving God through Jesus.

So, the second question, which presumes an answer of “yes” to the first one about afterlife existing.  The second question is:

2.  If there is an afterlife, do both heaven and hell exist, or just heaven?

I'll admit that I nuanced this one to lead to a particular answer.  While I'm not always confident about afterlife (and yet sometimes I am, it is a confusing place inside my head), I never think there is a hell.  It just doesn't make the tiniest bit of sense to me that over the long run anything but God's grace could win out.  I read one time a suggestion that people continue to have free will after death, and so if heaven is unity with God, people can take AS LONG AS THEY WANT to get there, but in the end, they will because grace wins.  Put another way, I simply don't believe in a God of eternal punishment, it is incomprehensible to me.  That said, I think most modern Christians believe in a heaven and a hell, and most of them think it is heresy not to.  (oh.  Well.)

I think that for most people who believe that “good people go to heaven when they die” and the unspoken but obvious corollary “bad people go to hell when they die” there is a desire to believe that there is fundamental justice in the world and that bad things are punished and good things are celebrated and even if we don't see evidence of that on earth, it will get balanced out later.  I can understand a desire to believe that!  

Now, for me the third question is null and void, but since Christianity has spent the past 1600-1700 years fighting over it, I guess we should take a moment to hear the arguments. ;)

3.  If both heaven and hell exist, how are people sorted between them?

Possible answers:

In order to get into heaven you have to BELIEVE the right things ( “Justification by FAITH.”) This is the primary perspective of the Christian Right, although it intersects some with the next idea.

In order to get into heaven you have do DO the right things.  For many of those Christians there is a list of good things and a list of bad things to guide behavior. ( “Justification by WORKS” or “Works Righteousness.”)  

In order to get into heaven one must be baptized.  This is often even subconscious now.  This is one of the strongest arguments for infant baptism.  It is also one of the strongest arguments against it.  Some in this mindset will claim that only baptism in their PARTICULAR part of Christianity will matter.  However, when Christianity was much younger, this often resulted in people refusing to be baptized until the very last moment.  (I think, in fact, this is the historical basis for the Catholic ritual of last rites.) They thought that once baptized all their sins were forgiven, and if it was done late enough they wouldn't have time to sin.  I'm not kidding.  This was very common practice.

In order to get into heaven we need God's grace, and God's grace given to us results in our ability to have faith.  (“Justification by grace alone though faith.”) UMC option Thus it is not what we do or do not do; nor what we believe or do not believe that results in our welcome into heaven.  It is simply God's nature.  This does raise a rather large question about those who do not believe in God though.

As a reminder of how complicated all of this is,  I do not think that our Gospel lesson supports or disproves any of the schools of thought.  Rather, it urges humility.  The Sadducees were trying to trick up Jesus, and they brought him a tricky question in order to do it.  The question supported their belief about what happens when we die, but Jesus' answer did not let them trip him up.  He says, ““Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”

This passage keeps me humble.  I don't know what it means, I don't know what heaven is like,or if it exists, and that's OK.  Many of us are not same worldview as moralistic therapeutic deism who say  “good people go to heaven when they die” or the Christian-Right who say that and have clarity over who counts as “good.”  Many of us simply don't know what happens after death.

I think that at the core, the questions of if afterlife exists or not and whether there is cosmic justice are really questions about existential anxiety.  That is, as beings who are conscious and who know we are mortal, we struggle with the reality that someday we won't be (at least in this form) anymore.  

I think that our shared, all the way back to Jesus, Christian Tradition offers Jesus-followers two ways we can respond to existential anxiety and the claims of the other traditions.  If we are about continuing the work of Jesus – about building the kindom and inviting others to be partners with us in building the kindom – then our work does not end with our deaths any more than Jesus' did.  This is not same as individual afterlife, but is really powerful in a different way. Certainly the ways that each of us work towards the kindom is unique, but the end goal is shared, and after we are gone others will be following up on our work with theirs … until the kindom comes.

The other piece of our response to existential anxiety is simply trusting in God.  Whether or not we cease to exist at the end of our lives, God and God's memory will still hold our lives, our loves, our actions, our thoughts, and our feelings.  And, whatever is on the other side of the proverbial curtain – God IS and God is GOOD and what will be is possible to trust in.

And that brings us full circle to say, that while I know it is awful to acknowledge death while celebrating a new life, I am happy to say that the kindom building and the goodness of God will outlast even the life of the baby baptized today life and thanks be to God for that!  Amen

1 (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/april/13.36.html?paging=off)

[adreamfromnevermore]

Hope it’s ok if I add on? @hey-hamlet @wolfsrainrules

-The first thing newcomers to the resistance learn is that there is a group that has a tendency to destroy everything they go after. Everyone that stands in their way and most importantly every single handler that has ever been part of the camps.

-The second thing is that no matter what you should never ever insult those children around Aizawa or vice versa, 

-AFO thinks he’s created something great, and he’s convinced that all he needs to do to put an end to this is to take Izuku. He’s convinced that these children will return to being the docile little weapons that follow their handlers beck and call

-He also believes that Aizawa is simply using them. That he’s convinced them that he is just like any other handler, that he treats them just like any handler they had before and so he doesn’t understand the most important part

-They may call Aizawa handler but it is nothing like the ones they had before. They chose him, and he chose them and Null and Nitro right beside them and over time they taught these children that were so broken how to be free again

-That is the most important part that he misses. When he takes Izuku he sends another attack with the sole intent of taking Aizawa out of the picture. He survives but the nomu doesn’t leave him behind broken for them to find. It takes him with it, while they’re distracted by the loss of Null they turn to find their handler gone. The one they chose and that chose them.

-They do more than just rage.

-Everyone always assumed that it was Null that came up with the plans. That Null was the mastermind. And yes he was, but he was only one of many. The first thing that they taught these children was to be free, to be free they had to plan. Aizawa wasn’t going to be giving them an order every second in a fight

-They fight with the freedom he gave them, and he hopes that over time they will realize that they don’t need to call him Handler. That freedom is something they are more than willing to use to reclaim whats theirs. Two handlers, both ones they chose lost in as many minutes.

-AFO has no idea what he’s just drawn onto himself. No idea the danger he’s created because these are kids that have learned freedom in the same breath that they’ve learned the absolute power that comes in a surprise attack. In being unpredictable, that is how Aizawa has survived this long after all.

 -And they have so many who have learned to use their quirks in ways their handlers at the camps never thought. Have learned to fight off of each other and work together, to trust your ally at your back with everything you have because you know that they would do the same for you.

-AFO keeps Aizawa as an extra handle on Izuku, Izuku who he shows his mother. The Bakugos and Rei in the cells beside her and across from her the chained and blind folded shape of Eraserhead. Injured but still alive, and from the look of it able to fight.

-You wouldn’t put that many chains on someone that didn’t fight every second of the way into them. Izuku almost wants to ask how many times the man tried to get free before they decided to add the weights holding him to the floor.

-Null looks AFO in the face and tells him no. AFO simply laughs and tells him that he will wait, he’ll come around eventually. 

-After all they won’t find him. Oh no, they aren’t going to find him. And the children will return eventually, he doubts there are any aside from Eraserhead willing to take the title of Handler to use a bunch of child weapons.

-Izuku doesn’t laugh. But he also doesn’t tell him that Eraserhead did not choose to be their handler. That it was the other way around. And he had no less than complete faith that they will come for them. If there is anything Eraserhead taught them, anything Nitro and Null learned in their years alone.

-It’s that as long as you can still fight, you never leave one of your own behind. No matter what anyone else says. 

AU Prompt: The villains are heroes. Something bad happens and villains end up publically running japan. To be a hero is to be a terrorist, it's a death sentence. Still, there are people who try. Last bastions of a heroic society some 30 years gone. All Might, and the last dregs of UA are spread out across Japan, training anyone who even considers being a hero. Izuku wants, no, needs to be a hero. He has someone to save.

DFGFDDSCVx @north-peach

–History has a way of being rewritten by the victor. When Sensei (All for One) managed to slip his own agents into government positions without notice, it was the beginning of the end. When he started leaking false accusations for actual heroes, and setting up situations for his people to become the ‘hero’ the people looked up to…it was too late to stop it. It was a series of carefully manipulated laws, situations, and incidents that saw villains sitting in power. And as years passed, less and less believed the real heroes, less and less remembered the truth. Some were convinced of the lies instead.

–Izuku grew up running. Always running, because his mother had landed herself with the title ‘terrorist’ when he was seven, and the villains in charge noticed how smart he was. Noticed how he could break quirks down in moments, and was creative about how to use even the most simple of quirks for ‘hero’ work.

–schools are set up that way now. If teachers notice certain ‘children’ with abilities or quirks or anything they think would help their ‘heroes’ they are supposed to alert a higher authority who then assesses the information and chooses to pass it higher, which continues until someone high enough has their attention caught. 

–Izuku makes it far enough up the chain that attention is brought to him. People in government suits show up at the Midoriya household, and they try to take Izuku. For a ‘training’ program, they swear. 

–But Inko remembers. Inko was there for the Fall. She knows that will happen if she hands her child over now. She knows she’ll never see him again, that the villain-heroes will use him and toss him away. The fact that she remembers what Was is why Izuku wants to be a hero so badly- she used to tell him stories all the time.

    -So when the agents come for her son, Inko retaliates. Three men die that day, inside her home, after she invited them in for tea and to ‘talk’ with a smile on her face. (the human body is made up of so many small objects, after all)

–Inko leaves the bodies where they are, sat on her couch and leaning back, like they’d just fallen asleep, nothing but the deep blooming bruises to hint at the internal bleeding she had caused pulling at their insides.

she rushes to get the two of them packed, made easier by the fact she has Go-Bags set and ready already. (She wasn’t stupid she knew this day would come. She had long been considered a ‘terrorist’ in this age, even before this incident, having been playing ‘vigilante’ for years, saving those that she could in this new age, hiding children and families, guiding them, and keeping them safe where she could. The Bakugous had helped her for just as long.)

–When Inko rushes out of her house, setting it alight, she leaves with the Bakugou family at her side (she would later find out that Mitsuki had been fielding her own ‘government visits’ for Katsuki as well. Her husband had been the one to deal with that- kind he may be, but he was a fiercely protective man that could sweat acid, even if he had to be creative with its use)

–So Izuku, Kacchan, and their parents had grown up running from place to place, silent heroes in places they could manage it, staying a step ahead of the government that would call them terrorists and see them ‘dealt with’. They’d grown up close as brothers, and swearing they were going to be real heroes no matter what. 

–Over the years, the children and their parents come into contact with Aizawa, and through him the remains of UA. They come into contact with various runaways, and those that Inko had helped to hide or save previously. And they are saved in return. They are offered training, given contacts in the various cities they hop through, even though they’re young. The villains wont care about that after all.

–and the UA staff can see the potential in these boys, see the heroes that they would have become BEFORE. They are set to offer them a place in their ranks long before they reach an age that the teachers would feel comfortable teaching them what they need to know to survive the choice.

–And then their parents get taken, buying them time to get out.

–And it becomes not just a matter of ‘wanting’ to be a hero to fight the  villains that have overtaken everything. It becomes a need

–Izuku is a sweet boy, And Katsuki is loud but not as brash and violent as cannon- he couldn’t be, in a life on the run where all they had for certain in the morning was each other. But both boys are determined and driven and so very smart.

–The Villains made a mistake, when they gave these boys a personal reason to fight them. A deeper, stronger reason for them to stand up and say “NO MORE”

–Izuku doesn’t meet All Might until after this, when he and Katsuki have been causing a Series of Very Unfortunate Events™ for those in charge, and causing stirs when they leak information All for One would REALLY rather not get out into the world he’s taken (taking) over thanks. 

–Because these boys are smart, and working together, they can and WILL pick the world apart for their own, can and WILL dismantle centuries of work, absolutely will not hesitate to destroy everything the government of villains has worked for and built, even if it takes them YEARS.